Boston Kickout (1996)

"There's loads to do in Stevenage...if you like concrete"

"I fucking hate this town"

Stevenage. No offence to anyone who hails from there, but it really is a shithole. I can just about say this, as I used to go out with a girl from there and visited its grim concrete desolation row regularly. It's telling that the two most famous films made in Stevenage, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and this, chart the decline from optimism to pessimism of these government sponsored urban landscapes that were built upon the rural and undeveloped areas of our land in the postwar period to help accommodate the 'overspill' from deprived inner city areas. In the earlier film the mood is bright and breezy for our young freewheeling protagonists, but by the time we reach the 1990s of Boston Kickout, the youth on display are emphatically disillusioned. The film, from writer/director Paul Hills, is a semi-autobiographical tale about his own experiences growing up in the town.

Phil (John Simm) moved from London to Stevenage as a child with his father (Derek Martin) in the 1980s shortly after witnessing his mother's suicide. Now it is 1991 and Phil and his friends, Ted (Andrew Lincoln), Matt (Nathan Valente) and Steve (Richard Hanson), have just left school and are caught in that limbo period of the 'final' summer; waiting for the exam results that will shape their adult lives. Ted, effortlessly cool, is keen to break out of the stifling atmosphere of his hometown and promptly disappears in dramatic fashion on that first night of freedom - perhaps because he knows that if you stick around any longer you'll end up like Steve's older brother, Robert (a scene-stealing Marc Warren), a wild skinhead who revels in his small town legend; "I've been thrown out of every club in Stevenage!" he gleefully proclaims after the bouncers chuck him into the street for glassing someone. "There's only two!" Phil points out, but it does little to deflate his sense of achievement.

Caught between these two extremes is Phil and Simm's performance of understated charm serves as the perfect balance. Feeling somewhat lost without the routine of school and with his best mate Ted AWOL, Phil drifts through a dead-end summer job at a bakery whilst indulging in his pastime of photography, not really knowing what he wants to do with his life, or what he wants from it. The developments of his friends - Matt gets engaged and Steve's behaviour becomes increasingly strange - provides him with some surprising distractions, but he only gets something of his own when his Shona, his outgoing Irish cousin (Emer McCourt) visits, leading to romance. This too however, proves to be a momentary distraction and, when his father attempts suicide, Phil must ultimately make a decision to either accept his lot and become absorbed by his peers and the culture around him, or break out and seek to achieve his potential. 

Boson Kickout is a sadly overlooked film, perhaps because it was quickly lost in the wave of more successful and better remembered films such as Trainspotting and Human Traffic, which also starred Simm, an effective poster boy for the Britpop 90s, and featured some of the same production team, including a producer credit Emer McCourt. It's a shame, because I think overall Boston Kickout is a more contemplative and mature offering than the enjoyably cartoonish antics of Human Traffic, with themes that are perhaps less dated, and is certainly better than the Trainspotting wannabes that followed in its wake. It's easy to see why Simm, Lincoln and Warren went on to bigger and better things, but sadly Valente and Hanson did not, and their somewhat anonymous performances perhaps tell that tale. 

I'd recommend the film for anyone who grew up or came of age in the 1990s, it's choice soundtrack (Oasis, The Stone Roses, Primal Scream etc) and the fashions (I was amused to see that Ted dressed exactly like I did in the '90s and the early '00s - I had exactly the same leather jacket and a fondness for obscure T-shirts, and given that I have short dark, wavy/curly hair just like Lincoln's, it was quite an out-of-body experience!) will certainly bring back memories, and if you lived in a new town or a dead end town, you'll appreciate that sense of being young and alive but being held back and a little scared of taking the leap. It's not perfect, but it is a funny and touching coming-of-age drama that I had a good time with.

Oh and the title? It refers to the game that Phil et al played as kids, jumping over the fences of neighbouring homes and trashing their gardens.

Theme Time : Belle and Sebastian - Teachers

So my bedtime viewing for this past month or so has been Teachers, the Channel 4 comedy drama that ran for four series from 2001 to 2004 and starred, amongst others, Andrew Lincoln, Adrian Bower, Navin Choudhry, Raquel Cassidy, and Nina Sosanya (pictured below)  

This has been an enjoyable way to spend an evening as Teachers was a series that pretty much passed me by at the time. Being in my early twenties at the turn of the century meant I was out more nights than I was in. I do vaguely recall catching some of the first series, but at the time I found it to be a pale imitation of Andrew Lincoln's previous hit series This Life (which I loved) like it was just 'Egg Becomes a Teacher' and promptly didn't bother with any further episodes.

Watching it back, my opinion hasn't changed all that much about the first series. Aside from sharing a leading man, the show was also executive produced by This Life's Jane Fallon (Ricky Gervais' other half) and shared much of that series comedy/drama balance in its depiction of twenty-something's, on the first step of the ladder career wise, juggling their lives and loves. Much of the debut season rests on Lincoln's shoulders; he plays probationary English teacher Simon Casey, a teacher more interested in impressing his unruly pupils than he is actually teaching them anything. He's a teacher simply because he hasn't figured what else he could possibly do with his degree. He's still living at home with his dad, who is about to remarry his attractive younger girlfriend and spends too much time down the pub with his mates, PE teacher Brian (Bower) IT teacher Kurt (Choudhry) and Psychology teacher Susan (Cassidy) lusting after chilly English colleague Jenny (Sosanya) even though he has a sensible girlfriend at home, WPC Maggie (Zoe Telford) 

Things improved in the second season, with the show finding its identity more. For a start, it realised that although the show was called Teachers it needn't actually be about teaching, so out went the focus on the schoolkids that featured throughout the first series (actors like Kara Tointon, Phoebe Thomas and the irritating James Corden had all appeared in Simon's English class, and would go on to bigger things immediately after leaving) as the show concentrated fully on the core ensemble which was beginning to grow; joining Simon, Brian, Kurt and Susan in this second season were new probationers JP (Shaun Evans) a confident young gay man from Liverpool, and Penny (Tamzin Malleson) a beautiful but deeply manipulative character who it soon becomes clear trades on her looks to get anything she wants. In this series Jenny also became part of the group, rather than an outsider who stirred conflicting emotions in man-child Simon, and other characters such as demon headmistress Claire (Gillian Bevan), the dragon-like secretary Liz (Ellen Thomas) her incomprehensible boss-eyed sidekick Carol (Ursula Holden-Gill) and the pathetic head of English Bob (Lloyd Maguire) also began to have more to do. The show became much less straighter, and altogether more stranger with surreal sightgags such as a donkey wandering the school corridors without explanation, or a band of dwarf dinner ladies manning the canteen. Towards the end of the series, Simon left to go travelling which saw James Lance's Matt arrive to replace him and instantly begin an affair with Penny, behind his wife's back.

On paper, you'd expect the third series not to work. Not only have you lost your leading man in Andrew Lincoln, but between the end of the second series and the start of this third one, Raquel Cassidy, Nina Sosanya and Shaun Evans had also jumped ship, with no explanation made as to where their characters had gone. Cassidy's leaving was especially troubling as Susan was the patient glue of our little band. However, in came Vicky Hall as biology teacher Lindsay, a girl who could outdrink and outbelch what was fast becoming the best comedic double act on TV, Kurt and Brian.

  

Yet for me, the third series is actually the most enjoyable of the show, though that's not to say it isn't without its faults and I do seem to be in a minority here as a lot of people online seem to claim things went downhill from series three onwards. It does seem a little uncertain in whether or not it should place too much emphasis on Kurt and Brian, as the last remaining characters from the original gang, the series brings the likes of Bob, Liz, Carol and Claire even more to the fore, with mixed results. There's just something wrong about seeing our little group now including the likes of sad Bob (now dumped by his wife in favour of the satellite installation man) or Liz and Carol, down the pub. The whole point of Teachers in that first series was this was a little clique who viewed themselves as the misfit outsiders to the rest of the school, embracing these other secondary characters betrays that original purpose. I particular had trouble with Liz, a loathsome character who was downright awful to so many people yet never gets any comeuppance whatsoever, whereas Bob reminded me of the kind of tragic middle aged bloke I used to work with in the civil service at the time, who desperately wanted to reclaim some of his youth and inveigle his way into a much younger set. 

What really does work though is the fact that this ensemble is actually even stronger than the original team. James Lance and Vicky Hall are inspired additions and the latter teaching Tamzin Malleson's character the error of her ways, rehabilitates Penny enough to allow her to take her place in the gang. Her affair with Lance's Matt peters out rather early on, and over the thirteen episodes something slowly develops between Matt and Lindsay that culminates in the pair realising they have feelings for one another in the last episode.

But the real triumph in this third season is Kurt and Brian, the most sexually frustrated men in Bristol - and possibly the whole of the UK! In the hands of Bower and Choudhry, these characters transcend the Men Behaving Badly like trappings lesser actors could have contentedly and successfully mined  to approach something akin to the most glorious of double acts like Morecambe and Wise or Laurel and Hardy. They're both loveable idiots (though they'd probably be much less loveable in reality - Kurt especially!) but they never seem totally aware of how idiotic they are, with Kurt in particular being totally oblivious to his own faults and flaws.

Even Simon comes back for three episodes, and it still works, with Andrew Lincoln also appearing behind the camera as a director for some of the best episodes later in the series. OK, it's far more outlandish and more sitcommy than the comedy drama of series one, but I still think it's the most enjoyable of the lot.

When I bought the DVDs a couple of years ago (and yes, I've only just got round to marathon-watch them) I actually only thought Teachers ran for three series, so imagine my surprise only yesterday when glancing through the All4 boxsets on my Sky+, I saw that there was actually a fourth series too. How did I not realise this? 

Maybe I shouldn't have?

I should point out that at the time of writing, I haven't actually watched any of this fourth and final season. But I have heard a fair bit about it online. Many view it as a mistake and a disappointment and cite one more cast reshuffle as the reason why this flopped. Certainly Channel 4 do, claiming the changes saw viewers turn off, leading to the low ratings that saw the show get axed and the channel perhaps push all its resources into Teachers most likely successor Green Wing, which made its debut the following year.

I have no idea why Adrian Bower, Navin Choudhry and James Lance decided not to return to the series after the third season, but to write them out in the opening moments as having died in a car crash strikes me as being particularly bitter (ETA: I've just watched the opening scene which sees Lindsay, Bob and Penny visit their graves and proceed to urinate on them! What the fuck?! OK Penny doesn't want to piss on Kurt's grave, despite Lindsay pointing out 'he'd've loved that' which is quite amusing, but it's still a deeply wrong scene that makes me think the production had issues with the three actors leaving). Losing the inspired double act at the heart of the previous three seasons is always going to hurt, but losing James Lance's suave and devillish Matt, just when he realised his unlikely love for Lindsay, throws away everything that series three worked towards. 

The setting for the series also changed for this final run, with the school having merged with another in the area. Joining the cast are Lee Williams as English teacher Ewan, Daon Broni as Food tech teacher Damien and Matthew Horne as RE teacher Ben, leaving Lindsay and Penny as are only link to the past. I've read that Bob becomes even more central to this series, becoming even more tragic in his attempts to be young and rejuvenate his life, taking to wearing a toupee and ordering a Thai mail order bride, Ping. 

I will watch the fourth season for completist's sake, and because I really like the characters of Lindsay and Penny, but I'm going in with very low expectations. It's a real shame the series didn't just end on the high of the final episode of series three, directed by none other than Andrew Lincoln.

The theme tune was an instrumental stretch from The Boy With The Arab Strap by Belle & Sebastian - beautiful song....

Of the three DVD's I have each has an amusing Making of featurette of each series, which suggests a very happy team behind the scenes.

And if you have Sky boxsets, you can download series 1 to 4 now.

Human Traffic : Remixed (2002)

I've seen Human Traffic before, shortly after its release (so, many moons ago) in fact, but this is actually my first watch of this 'remix'. This version is - I believe -  essentially producer Allan Niblo's cut of the film following a fall out during the film's making with his writer/director protege Justin Kerrigan.

Too long since the original watch to spot any differences I'm afraid.

But, man is this film ever a time capsule! I know people who lived like this. Shit, I kind of lived like this too and I have to tell you it's damn strange to see it now simply as an observer. 

The themes of alienation and having to deal with unemployment or just plain shit employment, living for the weekend when you're in your twenties are palpably real and well created with a suitably anarchic breaking the fourth wall style interposed between the kinetic bombast of images and tunes from the chemical and clubbing culture.

I love the scenes of the alternative national anthem, ranting over pints about shit boy bands, the piece to camera about pill paranoia, the scene where John Simm and Andrew Lincoln (This Life, Afterlife) say to one another what they really think, Nicola Reynolds (later to appear in Ideal) doorstep press conference about joining the two million unemployed and 'looking forward to getting into some hardcore Richard and Judy', Howard Marks' 'spliff politics' cameo, Danny Dyer and Coupling's Richard Coyle's 'Star Wars is a drug film' talk and the overall believability of the group on screen. It really is great casting.

Essentially this is how we used to live circa the end of the 20th Century/start of the 21st. Christ, when did we get so sodding old?!

PS Danny Dyer was an irritating soppy cunt even back then. But at least he was playing one here.

PPS beyond the 90s fashions, Lorraine Pilkington was gorgeous...and clearly talented too

Theme Time : Edmund Butt - Afterlife

Another of Edmund Butt's theme tunes (he of Life On Mars, Ashes To Ashes and the remake of Survivors; all previously posted in my Theme Time series) is the ITV supernatural drama series Afterlife, which ran for two series between 2005 and 2006.

Created by Stephen Volk (writer of the Ken Russell film Gothic, the recent film The Awakening and the infamous and still shittifyingly scary 1992 Screen One hoax documentary Ghostwatch) the series concerned the psychic abilities of former nurse Alison Mundy played brilliantly by that great northern actress Lesley Sharp. Alison is something of a reluctant medium and the series opens with her arriving in Bristol hoping to begin again where she comes into contact with local university lecturer Dr Robert Bridge played by Andrew Lincoln (now US hot property thanks to The Walking Dead, but he'll probably be forever Egg in This Life to me!) Robert is naturally sceptical but decides to study Alison to write an academic book on what he believes is the delusion of the psychic and her believers. Each episode follows Alison and Robert investigating, from both viewpoints, hauntings of the living by the spirits of the dead across Bristol. It soon becomes clear however that Alison is seeing the spirit of Robert's dead infant son, whom he lost in a car accident, and the debut series also deals with the recurring theme of her trying to get Robert to come to terms with the death of his son so the spirit can move on into the afterlife.

I've recently watched - for the first time I hasten to add, having not since it go out on original transmission - this programme having bought a boxset rather cheaply from Cex. I must say I greatly enjoyed the first series but found the second somewhat lacking. Come series two however, the emphasis changed and something got lost. I found more attention was given to the recurring themes befalling our two leads (Alison becoming haunted by the spirit of her own mother, a mentally ill woman who committed suicide when Alison was a child, and Robert discovering he has an inoperable brain tumour) rather than having the show focus on the individual 'case of the week' and, barring the odd exception when a strong storyline came along or in the climaxes of each central story for our regulars, the episodes in series two were, to me, of a weaker standard. 

That said the performances of both leads and the rather starry supporting cast over the episodes (Mark Benton, David Threlfall, Liam Cunningham and Saskia Reeves to name but a few all make guest appearances) are uniformly excellent and the skill in creating a suitably spooky atmosphere to each episode combined with a cast giving it their all makes this a real treat to watch.

I've read that there were plans for a third series but that ITV pulled the plug. I can actually understand their decision to do that, not because I found the second run lacking, but because I can't really see where a third series would go given what happened to one of the leads at the end of that final season.

I would heartily recommend Afterlife to anyone who enjoys a good ghost story or shows like Medium, Sea Of Souls or The X Files 

So without further ado, here's Butt's theme, entitled The Passing

Theme Time : The Way Out - This Life

The Way Out were a group of musicians who composed the cracking theme tune to the programme of the mid 90s, This Life

The show that launched the careers of Jack Davenport and Andrew Lincoln, as well as Daniela Nardini, Amiti Dhiri, Ramon Tikaram and Jason Hughes. I still miss that show